Stand and deliver!

Cambridge: Short-final rwy 05*

From Gravells (2007) p. 8 I need to consider what topics I can teach. I also need to start thinking about the 30 minute micro-teach exercise I have to deliver as part of the course. Below I list my thoughts so far

• I lectured on a one year Pascal programming course for three years, two hours per week, from 1984. I was responsible for the course content, I set coursework and an end of course examination. In those days, you did not need a PTLLS!
• my career background is 23 years in IT, which is a very broad subject. I have been a senior manager from my first IT job in 1987. I am experienced in the software development life-cycle, most computer programming languages, broad operating system knowledge, systems design & deployment engineering, skilled network analyst, security specialist, competent operations analysis & support and excellent desktop systems knowledge in both office software & graphical design fields. I have also been a marine engineer and a steak-house (Schooner Inns) manager
• I am an amateur photographer with no particular specialist subject, though I am told I have an eye for a photograph. I am certainly skilled in digital image correction and manipulation. For example I hand-stitched 26 images for the panorama of Ely Cathedral (below); the images of the spiders web and British Library sculpture are mine as is the highly manipulated Hello World on this page

Anything to tap into here?

• I am a160 hour private pilot. Not only can I fly a light aeroplane (twin piston) but in gaining my licence I have studied Air law and operations procedures, human performance and limitations, meteorology, navigation, principles of flight, flight performance & planning and aircraft technical & general knowledge. I think flying also teaches you to have a continual eye for safety of your self and others
•  I have an interest in local history via editing Wikipedia, e.g. Little Thetford. This has given me an amateur introduction to palaeontology, archaeology, geology, human history, UK heritage, zoology, botany, cartography and a host of research oriented skills such as identifying and qualifying sources, copy-editing and accurate summarising
• I have an interest in cryptography, a branch of mathematics which also interests me deeply. As an example, my degree course was a business oriented computer studies degree though I was more interested in the computer science aspects. I managed to study a lot of computer science during the degree (hence my teaching post-grad) and built a 3D real-time wire-frame rotating true-perspective model of Wearmouth Bridge on a Harris H100 time-sharing computer in Fortan IV. I completed the required mathematics from first principles. I was very proud of this feat; especially as the computing engineers said it could not be done! I also built a BSL animated language demostrator using Pascal on an early IBM PC. My wife drew the pictures for it. I regret not writing this up as the compression techniques I used, to get real-time hand movements, anticipated mpeg compression by a few years; and my method was lossless!

Panorama, Ely Cathedral*

I suspect the above shows I have a number of life skills that I may be able to pass on to others. I know I show an enthusiasm for everything I do in life although the last five years without a full-time role have been somewhat dispiriting.

For my 30 minute micro-teach session, I am definitely leaning towards an introduction to Wikpedia editing, though I am not sure how interested my colleagues on the course will find this topic. Perhaps I should write a brief lesson plan and test it on my wife first!


* Ely Cathedral © 2005 John McCullough; Tap © 2006 John McCullough; Short-final © 1999 Marilyn McCullough (I was flying!)